[Update about Rep. Betty McCollum]

James Hovland has been in politics for 11 years. The first 8 years on the Edina City Council, the last 3 as mayor. Edina city politics is non-partisan and Hovland has run three times as a Republican. So why are Minnesotans interested in the Republican Mayor of Edina? Because as many people know, he's switched parties and has announced he's running for Jim Ramstad's seat (MN-03) along with Teri Bonoff and Ashwin Madia.

Why would a long-time Republican in a seemingly Republican city switch to the DFL to run for Congress and not remain a Republican? Intolerance, vision, Iraq and fiscal responsibility.

Iraq

Because he was interested in what was going on in Iraq, he attended a Scott Ritter lecture at the U of M's Bell Centre in late 2002 or early 2003. Ritter was a UN Weapons Inspector in Iraq. He explained how it was not possible for Saddam Hussein to have weapons of mass destruction or pose much of a threat at all. Jim was mystified about why the Republicans wanted to go to war in Iraq.

"There ya go, thinking for yourself," I joked. He chuckled, but didn't reply. But unlike so many other Republicans, he didn't just accept the talking points. He investigated on his own and saw what the vast majority of Republicans wouldn't and what a small majority of them still can't. Now more and more Republicans are leaving the Republican Party and while there are often many reasons, the Iraq War is the primary.

Fiscal responsibility

Fiscal responsibility is pretty clear as well. Since the Republicans have gained control of the White House and Congress, they have been incredibly fiscally irresponsible. Jim pointed out that they've turned a $236 billion surplus into a $950 billion deficit. Many foreign countries are thinking of delinking their currency from the dollar things are getting so bad. Their fiscal irresponsibility in Iraq is stupendous.

Intolerance

Hovland said that one of the reasons he voted for Bush in 2000 because he was a compassionate conservative. However, he was shocked by the Administration's intolerance. Especially the modern Republican party's stance on GLBT issues. He found their hatred appalling. A member of his extended family is gay and has been in a committed relationship for more than 20 years. Where was the compassion? He was raised as a moderate Republican. Liberal on social issues, conservative on finance and defense. What he saw and heard, did not fit his values. He believes in equality for everyone.

Vision

Whenever he went to the Capitol to lobby for his city, it was the Republican legislature that blocked so many things that would have been good for his city. Then it was the Republican governor who blocked the many things that would help his city once the Democrats regained control of the legislature. The Republicans were never thinking ahead, they were just trying to stop anything constructive from happening.

"In business the companies that want to maintain the status quo, will go to great lengths to preserve the status quo," he explained. "Once they realize that the situation has changed, it's too late. They are almost always unable to adapt. For example, I convened a task force to look at the future of the Southdale Mall & area. People asked me why I was doing this because 'Southdale is doing really well right now' to which I answer that yes it is doing great right now, but what about in 2020? We need to begin planning ahead for the future needs of the Southdale area so that the success continues. Most people only start a task force when things are going badly."

Transportation

He went on to expound upon how Republicans refuse to plan ahead. Transportation exemplifies their inability to plan. It is also the issues upon which he has been most active and which we spent a considerable amount of time talking about. He is part of the Met Council's Transportation Advisory Board. They reviewed a report which analyzed all options, from total buildout to accomodate all traffic ($43 billion) to the biggest bang for the least cost (200 minor improvement projects for $6-8 million). Yet, what has happened? Not a lot.

Republicans, both in Congress and at the State Capitol, have not funded our transportation system adequately. Our bridge fell down highlighting their ineptitude. "No society has been a great society without a great transportation infrastructure," he stated. "The Romans are the classic, their roads led to an explosion of commerce. Our ability to move products used to be unparralleled, now our entire infrastructure is in disrepair."

The Central Corridor project (a light rail line connecting downtown St. Paul with downtown Minneapolis running along University Avenue) is the next project and he wants to play a part in getting better public transportation down 35W to the southern suburbs, 394 to the western suburbs and out to the southwestern suburbs like Eden Prairie and Chanhassen.

He marveled at how packed the Park-N-Ride parking ramp next to the Eden Prairie Mall is every workday with people leaving their cars there and taking the bus downtown. He also thought it was great that people were driving from all over to park at Fort Snelling and take the light rail into downtown. He thinks its a sign that people want a public transit system.

Health Care

"80% of the health care spending is for people with 4 or more maladies," he claimed. He clearly sees the economic angle of our health care problems. "It's hurting entrepreneurship. People don't want to go into business for themselves if they won't have health insurance." We talked for a while about how health insurance costs were rising at around double the rate of inflation and that this was hurting business. He further claimed that he's talked about the health care crisis with people in the insurance industry and some of them even want some sort of universal health insurance. While I wonder how much an industry that is making massive profits by denying people healthcare would be willing to budge, it is a hopeful sign. He also believes that health insurance is wage deflator -- looking at how many unions are accepted salary cuts or smaller increases to keep good health insurance, I see his point.

The bottom line is that Jim would work with corporations who realize that their profits margins are affected by the rising costs as well as the advocate groups.

I asked about a single payer universal system, he said that he'd generally be for it provided it could guarantee we all get a high quality of care and could manage costs effectively. He mentioned that there are plenty of examples in Europe upon which we could model ours.

Global Warming

I steered to conversation towards global warming. As an advocate for mass transit, I was interested in his perspective.

"The mayors have had to lead the way," he said. "This is an instance of acting locally and thinking globally. Edina can only make a tiny difference, but we're doing our little part in the greater whole." He conferred with the Council and they agreed that he should sign the national Mayor's climate protection proposal, ICLEI (International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives).

ICLEI—Local Governments for Sustainability is an international association of local governments and national and regional local government organizations that have made a commitment to sustainable development. More than 700 cities, towns, counties, and their associations worldwide comprise ICLEI's growing membership. ICLEI works with these and hundreds of other local governments through international performance-based, results-oriented campaigns and programs.

We provide technical consulting, training, and information services to build capacity, share knowledge, and support local government in the implementation of sustainable development at the local level. Our basic premise is that locally designed initiatives can provide an effective and cost-efficient way to achieve local, national, and global sustainability objectives.

ICLEI was founded in 1990 as the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives. The council was established when more than 200 local governments from 43 countries convened at our inaugural conference, the World Congress of Local Governments for a Sustainable Future, at the United Nations in New York.

Jim wants to see more solutions at the national level, like signing onto the Kyoto Protocol. "We're America, we should be leading the way." He sees the economic and national security implications. "We could be creating green jobs manufacturing wind turbines, solar panels. We could be creating green tech jobs."

"There are four rivers for all of Asia," he began his explanation of the national security implications of global warming. "If they begin having problems with their rivers, which is a real possibility, it could destabilize the region. There are already global warming refugees in Africa and the continued warming and drying out of Africa (expanding deserts), could even further destabilize a continent with so many other crises.

Miscellaneous

"Betty McCollum called me out of the blue," he explained when I asked if he was friends with her. She is reported to have urged him to run. "I could hardly believe that I was talking to the Representative Betty McCollum. She said I should run for the seat."

[Update]
Jim called to correct my misperception about Rep. McCollum. She was calling everyone that was rumored to be running urging them to attend a meeting with the DFL.

He's gotten many comments from folks who watched him on Public Access TV when he was on the Edina Council and now as Mayor. They would tell him they wondered if he's a Democrat. He brought up several stories of Republicans telling him they'd vote for him even regardless of what party he was in and they had no problem with him becoming a Democrat. Actually, he thought he would have to do a lot more explaining about why he switched. He's surprised about how easily people accept his switch and how most people he's talking to understand and even sympathize with why he did it. The best story is a long-time Republican who said:

"I'll vote for you on one condition." Jim asked what it was. "When you get into office, give Hillary a great big hug like Michelle Bachmann hugged Bush."

He wasn't sure if he'd go that far, but thought it was pretty funny. He's got a good anecdotal story about his switching parties. I think I heard him tell this story when he was on the Mark Heaney Show on Air America (950AM).

"My wife's a liberal and both my daughters are, too. So when I started contemplated switching to the Democratic Party, one of my daughters said that it was about time."

He's also beginning to build an organization. Julie Risser who ran as a Green for State Senate in Edina is working on his campaign. Wendy Wilde says she'll help. David Lillehaug and John Schultz have agreed to advise him.

Conclusion

Jim Hovland is pro-choice, he's against the war, he's fiscally conservative, socially liberal and frankly not much different that Jim Ramstad politically other than he's against the war. If he'd have run as a Republican, he'd have lost the endorsement to whatever far right candidate excites the Republican base, but would have probably defeated him in the primary. It says a lot about the state of the Republican Party, that he decided to switch and run as a DFLer.

It's also odd how I personally don't find any issues about him that are objectionable. You'd think I would. He was a Republican after all. He's good on the war, an advocate for public transit, good fiscally, wants universal healthcare and would be amenable to a single payer system. He'll definitely draw the moderate Republicans and independents to him as the Republicans only seem to nominate far right candidates. As I wrote when I urged Andy Luger to run, MN-03 is definitely trending blue and Jim Hovland would surely have a great shot of making it so.